IBM: 66% of organizations are reaping productivity gains from AI, with 1 in 5 seeing ROI

Organizations see increasing productivity as an urgent priority to drive not just growth, but innovation and competitiveness.

AI has proven to be “the greatest force multiplier for productivity the world has ever seen”. That’s according to new data from IBM – the tech giant surveyed 3,500 leaders from 10 countries across EMEA.

Two in three organizations are reporting significant productivity gains from AI – primarily within operational efficiency (55%), decision-making (50%) and augmenting workforce capabilities (48%).

Talking exclusively to UNLEASH, IBM’s Business Executive for AI in EMEA, Hans-Petter Dalen, shares: “The time saved from greater productivity is enabling employees across the region to focus on higher value tasks like developing new ideas (38%), strategic decision-making (36%), and engaging in creative work (33%).”

Of the 66% who have seen significant productivity gains, 24% credit AI with fundamentally changing their business models – AI has gone beyond just automating existing processes, and actually becoming a strategic enabler within organizations.

While a lot of the research suggests that organizations are struggling with return on investments with AI. IBM’s data actually found just 2% are yet to see or don’t expect to see any meaningful impact from AI in the next two years.

By contrast, one in five organizations have already realized ROI from their productivity initiatives.

Plus, IBM’s research found that 41% are expecting ROI over the next 12 months across cost savings (41%), time savings (45%), increased revenue (37%), employee satisfaction (42%) and increased NPS (43%).

There is also lots of optimism around AI agents – 92% of respondents expect measurable ROI over the next two years.

‘AI success hinges on people as much as technology’

Despite this promising outlook – and promising progress on ROI from AI – the leaders told IBM they had concerns about security, privacy, ethics and IT complexity challenges with AI.

87% said there was a need to maintain control over AI systems and data, while 85% stressed the need for transparency and openness to ensure that the technology is used in an ethical and responsible way.

This is where HR has a crucial role. “AI success hinges on people as much as technology,” shares Dalen.

The organizations “that empower employees to use AI confidently and responsibly will be the ones that turn experimentation into enterprise-wide transformation”.

IBM’s report called on organizations to prioritize a five things if they want to continue to reap AI ROI.

First of all, establish a common approach to AI transformation across your whole organization (with clear ownership), then, secondly, cultivate a culture of learning and innovation across all levels of the organization.

Thirdly, IBM also notes the need to “get comfortable with uncertainty”, fourthly, the tech giant recommends that organizations truly understand the risks of AI deployment, before, finally, creating an ‘AI board’ to mitigate those risks.